FAMILY SECRETS
Madness
Like a split lip
Sometimes makes it hard to speak
So much lit up my mother’s family
The side with writers, composers and
Yes, someone who stole from a church
And murdered a priest
The secret is out, mother--
How can you hold madness in?
Your uncle swung naked
From a rope tied to a chapel chandelier
Landing like baby Jesus
At the foot of the altar
During high mass
Front page news!
Another haunted
Public squares in Bogotá
Claiming to have the secret of the universe
Inscribed on a folded piece of paper
In his breast pocket
Faded as he was
The lost man
Your family invited for soup Sundays
The day of the Lord when
Amid the din of tolling bells
And sepulchral glory of hosts
Madness came to visit
I count them one by one
The cavorting ghosts
Amnesiac and closeted saints
The forgotten members of my family
We forgot to name
As I share tea with my mother.
Arya F. Jenkins is a Colombian-American poet and writer whose poems have been published in many journals and zines. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her poetry chapbooks are: Jewel Fire (AllBook Books, 2011), Silence Has A Name (Finishing Line Press, 2016), and Love & Poison (Prolific Press, 2019). Her short story collection Blue Songs in an Open Key (Fomite Press, 2018) is available here: www.aryafjenkins.com.